What's New

Our fall 2016 meeting took place on November 12, 2016 at Perspectives Corporation. Interpreters, CODAs, Deaf community members and up and coming interpreters were present. It was the first meeting that Hayley Baccaire was acting as President. There was not a quorum at the meeting, so minutes were unable to be voted on. Minutes and a new conflict of interest policy will be shared via the website and voted on remotely starting in January. Officers gave reports and we learned about updates from RID leadership, the national conference and testing. The board announced they will attend a retreat in January to learn how to use Google Docs and establish goals for 2017.

Luce Aubry from Framingham State University came and explained their interpreter training program. The program is the only public interpreter training program that is local to Rhode Islanders. The program is hybrid, which means it requires one day on campus and work can be done online from home, or locally with a mentor. More information is available on our recruitment page.

Steve Florio, the Executive Director from the Rhode Island Commission on the Deaf and Hard of Hearing came to speak about the Tier 1 and Tier 2 approach to interpreter scheduling through RICDHH. Currently, there are 8 interpreters who accept a large volume of work via RICDHH; there are also interpreters who accept a lesser volume of state work. Steve is working to create a system through which RICDHH can partner with agencies to ensure that state requests are covered. The model would give priority to the independent contractors on the MPA, Tier 1, then share the unfilled assignment with agencies, Tier 2. Tier 2 is for interpreting companies/agencies that offer sign language interpreters, either in person or remote services. The same goes for CART remote companies. Unfilled assignments would become available to Tier 2 entities one week before the start date of the assignment. If a request is submitted within 72 hours of the start time, the request would be sent to Tier 1 and Tier 2 entities to expedite the referral process.

We are hoping to have a larger turn out of interpreters at our January 28 meeting to weigh the pro's and con's of this approach. RIRID would like to present formal feedback to the commission in February 2017. ​Please make time to come to our next meeting on Saturday, January 28, 2017 10 am - noon at the RI School for the Deaf. It will be followed by a free workshop by Eileen Forestal on Working with a Deaf Interpreter. She will explain how Deaf Interpreters are used by many Deaf individuals to create a more accurate interpretation. Flier to follow soon.